Introducing Two Cats Successfully

Question
QUESTION: I have a two year old female cat that we adopted from a shelter last year. She lived in a room full of other female cats for about a week, then we adopted her. Before that, I don't believe she has ever lived with a cat, as far as I've known. She is shy around people, but is fine with my dogs and guinea pigs and has never been aggressive towards me in any manner. We want another cat, but we don't want her to be aggressive, or be scared of the new cat and hide all day. I think we should get a female, because she was in the room full of females, and seemed completely fine. Also, I heard we should get a cat smaller and younger than her. But, we want to adopt a cat instead of a kitten because cats don't get adopted out as much so would it be okay if it was one, and she was two? And how should we succesfully introduce them? With her, we kept her in the bathroom for a month and slowly introduced her to our dogs, and it worked, but I don't know if it's different when introducing two cats. Thanks for any help!

ANSWER: Hi Mollye,

Glad you're thinking about getting another companion cat. It sounds like she hasn't been in your house too long. You should have no problem introducing another cat into the household. Your first cat hasn't had enough time to really establish her territory and she should be amiable to having another cat around. Here's a cat intro protocol for you to follow. It will help introducing them. It sounds like you did something like this when you brought your first cat home.


http://www.sdhumane.org/site/DocServer/BT_Cat-Cat_Intros.pdf?docID=621

Good luck and take care.

Ciao, Karen

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Does it make a difference when adopting a female of male? Because we are thinking about a female since she was in that room full of females. And should the cat be smaller and younger than her, or does it not matter? Because I heard if the new cat is smaller, the older cat will feel less intimidated.

Answer
Hi Mollye,

I personally prefer having a younger fixed male. Sometimes two females together will bat each other around more than a male and female do. Smaller is ok. But definitely a younger cat. This will make the bonding easier. Good luck and take care.

Ciao, Karen